Two Steps From Hell

Chapter 8: Haunted

"You are not my daughter. No, not really. You're an imposter sent to kill me," Essen declared, raising his g*n at her. "Who sent you? Was it Victor? I know it is him. You're all playing with my mind...making me see things that aren't real," he then scratched the side of his face with the slide of the g*n; tears billowing around his eyes. 

"No, daddy, it's me. Jody...your Jody. I've come back to warn you."

"Lies. I don't know what you are but I've already been publicly framed for people I didn't kill. I have assassins chasing me all over the place, trying to kill me. My captain, the most honest, upright person I've ever known, turned out to be way worst than the criminals we've both put behind bars; and to top it all off just a while ago I was attacked by a man who could move things with his freaking mind! Trust me...I don't have any s**t to care about anything anymore. It's all about survival now. For all I know, that man could still be here playing tricks with me the same way he did when he placed voices inside my head. No, you are not real," Essen said in closing after letting out his frustration; pointing back the g*n at her.

"The man you speak of, he is gone. But I'm real. I'm very real." 

"I don't believe you," Essen insisted, slowly but surely breaking down into tears. 

The girl gently took his hand and rubbed it against her cheek. "See, I am real."

Essen feeling the softness and warmness of her skin dropped his g*n immediately to hold her with both of his hands in sweet joy. "How is this possible?" He said, stooping down onto his knees to her level. 

"Listen to me; we don't have much time left. You have to find him. He is in grave danger." 

"Who is in danger?" 

"The pastor."

"What pastor?" 

"You saved his life," she said, hoping he would recall right away who she was referring to, but she saw that her father was still giddy from her return. In truth, he did not care about anything other than her at this moment in time. So she used her small delicate hands to hold his cheek and emphasized desperately, saying, "I need you to remember him."

Essen now looking deep into his memory, finally remembered and said, "The only 'pastor' I know is this former d**g addict I had as a witness on a case. David, I believe his name was, but the guy's a phoney." 

"He's the one. He's at the Cathedral. Come we have to go, now!"

"Hold on Jody. What's with the rush? Forget the pastor. A miracle has happened. You're alive. I'm sure your mother would like to---"

"No. You don't understand. Time is running out. If you don't come with me David will die today. We cannot let that happen."

"Well damn. If it's more important to you than you returning from the dead, then I guess I should save the guy."

"Yes. Come on, Dad," his daughter said, dragging him by the hand through the door. He grabbed his car key and a baseball hat on the way out and placed it on his head. 

It was early morning and outside was quiet and peaceful. Everyone in the community was fast asleep except for this one old man who was watering his lawn. He froze on seeing Essen, who he knew as the most wanted man in Beacon City right now. But Essen didn't notice him. The old man, however, noticed something very strange about him; Essen was walking with his hand stretched out as if someone was pulling him. Oh, yes. The old man couldn't see the little girl. Essen then opened the passenger door for the little girl to get in. He subsequently closed the door for her and walked around the car to get in from the driver's side. The old man across the cul-de-sac scratched his head in confusion when he saw this madness. Essen thereafter drove off. 

Heading Downtown, Essen heart beat faster than usual. He hoped not to see any police, likewise them he. Nonetheless, he was glad to have his daughter with him and he took the risk of staring at her in admiration from time to time as he drove. 

"What kind of danger did you say he was in?" He asked.

"Both of you are. A malevolent entity has been conjured to kill you both," the girl spoke sounding a bit too intelligent for her age. 

"Malevolent entity?" 

"A demon from the pits of hell."

"You know, just yesterday I would have written that off as being insane, but now I'll believe in anything. The man that attacked me, who was he?"

"His name is Deimos. He is not a man but the personification of terror itself," the girl replied with a small tremble in her voice. "Scientists set him free from his prison in the Abyss sixteen years ago."

"You mean CERN?" 

"Yes." 

"This kid that I met told me that CERN was secretly bringing in little green men into our world. You know, aliens from outer space. That is why they've been after me. They don't want word to get out to the general public."

"Not aliens, dad. Demons and something much worst."

"Something much worst? Jody, how do you know about all these things? You sound too smart to be a nine-year-old." 

"Daddy, everyone from where I'm from knows these things. Knowledge has no limits there. We know what's in motion and we all fear greatly for the inhabitants of the Earth," she said as he pulled up in the Cathedral parking space.

A dark shadow then fell upon the area. It was storm clouds taking formation. Essen looking up through the windscreen, observed lightning flashing in these dark clouds. Gusty winds started to develop. Oddly enough, this freak storm was only affecting the Downtown area housing the Cathedral. 

"Just as I'd feared. Deimos is here. We need to hurry," the girl warned as she opened the car door and got out. Essen did the same and they both hurried towards the Cathedral doors.

"David! You need to come with me!" Essen announced as he, with the aid from the raging wind outside, burst the Cathedral doors wide open. 

Luckily David was alone in the Cathedral. He was at the altar mopping the floor, but David dropped the mop stick in total fright when he saw that it was Essen. 

"You need to come with me," Essen repeated as he walked up the aisle towards him. 

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you, you murderer. Stay away from me!" The pastor yelled, hurrying to a shut door that led to the back of the building. 

However, just when he was about to grab the doorknob of this door, the craziest of things happened. He beheld the face of a hideous creature warping its way into the belly of the metallic door. Not too long after, while terror concealed his voice, the doorknob that he was reaching for suddenly transformed into a decaying hand and very tightly it grabbed hold onto his hand. "Help me!" He shouted, panicking and trying desperately to free his hand from the creature's firm grip. To his rescue came Essen, who used his g*n in close range to shot off the decaying hand. 

It fell to the ground and started to violently morph into something bigger. Not waiting to see what it would turn into, the two bolted down the aisle and out through the doors. As they ran down the aisle, each pair of windows they had past turned pitch black and cracked. An aching darkness slowly engulfed the Cathedral. By this time they had already driven off.

"What the b****y heck was that thing?!" David asked with his heart still out of his chest.

"Some sort of demon I'm guessing," Essen replied, looking at the little girl in his rearview mirror. She sat quietly in the back seat.

"A demon?" David scoffed.

"What, do you have a better explanation for what we just saw back there?" Essen asked, demanding an answer. "David, please enlighten me if you do."

David remained silent. He had to sit quietly as he tried to wrap his brain around the possibility that demons may exist, something he explicitly told Essen he did not believe in during his interrogation with him at the police department. 

Meanwhile all around them, there was complete mayhem. The gusty winds had picked up full speed and began to ravage most of the Downtown area; kicking up dust and debris from trees into the air. Thunder rolled and lightning flashed in the clouds up above. Most people stayed in stores where it was safe for them while they watched others braved it outside to go about their regular business. 

"My God, what's up with the weather today?" David wondered, looking at a man outside struggling to walk upright as the breeze pressed against him. 

Essen then stopped the car near an alley and got out. "Follow me," he said to David as he opened the door for his daughter to get out. 

"Where are you taking me, Detective?" He asked while getting out and following Essen into the alley.

"I know of a place where we will be safe for the time being until we figure this mess out." 

"Until we figure what out? Who's after us?"

"Weren't you paying attention or maybe it wasn't you who was just attacked by a doorknob that had turned into a hand? We're being chased by a demon." 

"Let's say I believe you for a second. Why would a demon be after me? I mean come on, man."

"You're pretty hopeless aren't you?" Essen asked, making fun of him as they came to a stop. "We both came in contact with Judas that night. Because of that we are both marked for death by the same people who wanted him dead. They were the ones who killed Mr Versalez. Not me. I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," Essen revealed, overwhelming David's brain. 

"This is ridiculous." 

Then without warning, Essen began to shout at a wall, saying, "Kid, it's me! I know you can see me! Open the elevator. I need your help!" 

"Have you lost your mind, Detective? What are you doing? Why this alley? And what's up with this weather?!"

"Calm down, my daughter will explain everything to you," Essen reassured while looking at the little girl, who was standing beside him. "Sweetie, I need you to tell him everything you told me."

"My what now?" 

"My daughter. Don't tell me you don't see her standing beside me?" 

"There is no one standing beside you," David said with a straight face. 

"You're joking, right? She was at the Cathedral and in the car with us. She is standing right in front of you. Open your goddamn eyes."

"That's it. You've lost it. You need help."

"I'm not crazy. She's standing right in front of..."

The little girl then tugged at his shirt to get his attention, "Daddy," she said. "He cannot see me. No one can but you." 

"But Jody you're right here. I've touched you, felt the warmness of your skin. Why can't he see you?"

"Because I can only allow you to see me."

"So...so you're just a figment of my imagination? Is that what you're trying to tell me?" Essen asked out loud. At the same time, David was now, more than ever convinced that he was crazy when he watched him as he talked to thin air.

"No. I'm your daughter," the little girl replied.

"But you're not truly her? Are you?"

"No. I'm the remnant of her. I'm here spirit." 

With her revealing this to Essen, he closed his eyes in sadness. A film of tears immediately gathered around his curly eyelashes. He now realized that his daughter was still dead. But this whole time unknowingly to them, the now-massive three-feet wide decaying hand was crawling down on the wall of the building their backs were turned to. Its fingers had grown disgustingly longer, resembling those of a spider's leg. Its body was like the body of a scorpion minus the tail. It stalked them like a hungry predator, waiting for the right moment to strike. 

"I knew you sounded a little too smart to be true," Essen confessed with a crossed look on his face. In his displeasure, he was totally unaware of the danger lurking behind him. "It was all a lie. You coming back and bringing false hope into my heart. I stand corrected. You are not my daughter."

"I am your daugh---"

All of a sudden they all began to hear a series of sounds like dry twigs being broken, echoing throughout the alleyway. They looked left and saw nothing. They looked right and still, they saw nothing. But the sound got more intense. They then decided to turn around together. There they spotted the truly terrifying creature positioned on the wall. Their blood instantly ran cold in utter disgust and terror at the likes of which they had never experienced before. The creature abruptly then catapulted itself off the wall and towards them. With not much time to run, Essen saw that it was David it was going after and decided to push him out of its way. In the process, Essen placed himself in harm's way as the creature inadvertently clamped itself onto his chest; wrapping its yucky fingers all the way around to his back. He instantly fell to the ground with the creature latched tightly onto him. 

At first, he tried to give the creature some resistance by moving his hands up and down, but it squeezed his body even more tightly as a result, eventually incapacitating him. With his life flashing before his eyes, he looked and saw hopelessness written all over David's face as he lied next to him on the rugged ground. Then right when everything was about to turn black, he looked up and saw the little girl standing over him with a contented look on her face. "I'm sorry, but this had to happen," she then remarked before ultimately fading into darkness.